Acting at Work: Façades of Conformity in Academia

Façades of conformity (FOC) is a theoretical concept coined to describe employees who act as if they embrace an organization’s values when they really don’t in order to sur-vive and/or succeed within that organization. This exploratory study combines value theory and the sociology of the professions to explore manifestations of FOC among pro-fessionals (university faculty members). Respondents ’ experiences of “acting at work” reveal the presence, absence, and dynamic nature of FOC. Response patterns allow us to confirm, disconfirm, and extend Hewlin’s (2003) theory by identifying two types of FOC, four issues respondents typically “façade ” about, behaviors enacted during the use of FOC, and the perceived risks associated with not using FOC at work. These results have significant implications for the scholarly and managerial practice of assess-ing value congruence between individuals and organizations